On Sept. 14, the Media Research Center used its NewsBusters Twitter account to bizarrely attack Esquire writer Charles Pierce as “Chappaquiddick Charles Pierce”:
The post being promoted — an item by Tom Johnson complaining Pierce wrote that if modern conservatism hadn’t been graded “on an intellectual curve, it would’ve flunked out of Human College decades ago” — says nothing about Chappaquiddick, nor does it mention any member of the Kennedy family; it actually features a picture of Ronald Reagan. Heck, Johnson doesn’t even question the accuracy of Pierce’s statement.
What’s going on here is a continuing petulant grudge the MRC has had against Pierce for years. As we’ve documented, Pierce wrote a 2003 profile on Ted Kennedy that noted the Chappaquiddick incident and added, “If she had lived, Mary Jo Kopechne would be 62 years old. Through his tireless work as a legislator, Edward Kennedy would have brought comfort to her in her old age.” Ever since then, the MRC — led by Tim Graham — has falsely promoted this quote as a an example of fawning liberal bias toward Kennedy. In fact, as Pierce himself states, it’s taken out of context from a section that takes a “tough, but fair, shot” at Kennedy by acknowledging that the Chappaquiddick incident effectively kept him from having the “moral credibility” to be president.
The MRC has continually refused to apologize to Pierce for misrepresenting the quote, let alone give him space anywhere on any MRC website to tell the truth about it.
But then, Graham — like his boss Brent Bozell — never has to answer for any of his falsehoods and failures, let alone pay any sort of price for getting it wrong.